New England Hockey Conference (formerly the ECAC East) is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States . It participates in the NCAA 's Division III as a hockey -only conference.
26-431: The New England Hockey Conference began as ECAC East in 1984 when ECAC 2 was split in two and both new conferences dropped down to Division III . The conference was fairly stable for the first decade but began to grow in the mid 1990s. In 1998 four teams left to become Division I programs in the new MAAC conference. A year later, nine more teams split off to join their primary athletic conference, NESCAC , followed by
52-619: A conference tournament from 1967 through its final full season in 1984. The tournament served as the de facto Division II National Championship until the NCAA instituted a national tournament in 1978. That year ECAC 2 effectively split its conference in two by having two division tournaments (East and West) with all games between the two divisions counting for the regular season. In its 20-year existence ECAC 2 had 45 individual schools as members. # enrollment in 2018 † as of 2018 ECAC East New England Hockey Conference (formerly
78-492: A full-member starting in 2024-25 and sponsor both men's ice hockey and women's ice hockey. In the summer of 2023, Keene State announced that they would begin sponsoring men's and women's ice hockey starting with the 2024–25 season. This gave the Little East Conference six member schools that supported men's ice hockey, the minimum number required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Shortly afterwards,
104-517: A variety of conferences, dropping league membership to 11 schools, the lowest number in conference history. In 2022, Johnson & Wales University announced that they would join Commonwealth Coast Conference as a full-member starting in 2024-25 and sponsor both men's ice hockey and women's ice hockey. In the summer of 2023, Keene State announced that they would begin sponsoring men's and women's ice hockey starting with
130-476: The 1993–94 season ECAC East had its first official conference schedule with all 18 teams playing each other once. Teams could schedule additional inter-conference games but only one would count in the standings. In 1999, when 9 teams left to form the ice hockey division of the NESCAC , the two conferences continued to count games between one another in their respective standings. This arrangement continued even after
156-569: The NCAA 's College Division . The league was created as a way to fairly divide the upper- and lower-class programs that had been members of ECAC Hockey . In 1984 the conference was split in two, creating ECAC East and ECAC West as completely independent leagues. In 1950 college ice hockey received its first official conference, the Tri State League , and while the conference possessed a minimal number of teams it routinely received one of
182-561: The SUNYAC , while Albertus Magus (who had yet to play a game in the NEHC) and Elmira both announced that they would be leaving to join the UCHC , all in 2025. Salem State also announced that they will leave in 2025 to join their primary conference ( MASCAC ) and will also start to sponsor women's ice hockey the same year. With just one school remaining for the start of the 2025–26 season, the future of
208-514: The UCHC , all in 2025. Salem State also announced that they will leave in 2025 to join their primary conference ( MASCAC ) and will also start to sponsor women's ice hockey the same year. With just one school remaining for the start of the 2025–26 season, the future of the NEHC is in doubt. From the time it formally split from ECAC 2 until 1992 all games played between members of ECAC East and ECAC West counted for conference standings. In 1992, after
234-503: The 2024–25 season. This gave the Little East Conference six member schools that supported men's ice hockey, the minimum number required for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Shortly afterwards, the Little East announced that they would begin sponsoring men's ice hockey as a sport and begin play in the 2025-26 season. In early 2024, New England College was accepted by the Little East as an affiliate ice hockey member, enabling
260-467: The ECAC East) is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States . It participates in the NCAA 's Division III as a hockey -only conference. The New England Hockey Conference began as ECAC East in 1984 when ECAC 2 was split in two and both new conferences dropped down to Division III . The conference was fairly stable for the first decade but began to grow in
286-471: The ECAC West split into two conferences, ECAC East only counted games within their conference for the standings, but because a formal schedule was not yet in place all games between members were still counted. For the 1993–94 season ECAC East had its first official conference schedule with all 18 teams playing each other once. Teams could schedule additional inter-conference games but only one would count in
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#1732780884230312-615: The Little East announced that they would begin sponsoring men's ice hockey as a sport and begin play in the 2025-26 season. In early 2024, New England College was accepted by the Little East as an affiliate ice hockey member, enabling the conference to also support women's hockey. Less than a month later, two more NEHC teams announced that they would be joining the Little East as affiliate members and both Babson and Norwich would be leaving in 2025. The bleeding continued when, in April and May, Hobart, Skidmore and William Smith announced their move to
338-404: The NEHC is in doubt. From the time it formally split from ECAC 2 until 1992 all games played between members of ECAC East and ECAC West counted for conference standings. In 1992, after the ECAC West split into two conferences, ECAC East only counted games within their conference for the standings, but because a formal schedule was not yet in place all games between members were still counted. For
364-454: The addition of more programs. There are 12 member schools; the men's division has ten members, while the women's division has nine members. (as of November 2018) Note: schools in red are planning to leave after the 2024-25 season † (as of November 2018) Men Women Both ECAC 2 ECAC 2 was an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with
390-612: The college division into two numerical divisions, the NCAA began the NCAA Division II Men's Ice Hockey Championship and the inaugural title was won by ECAC 2 member, Merrimack . ECAC 2 would win four more championships over the next five years and established itself as the premier league at the Division II level. In 1983, the NCAA announced that it would begin hosting a Division III Championship and require all schools who normally played at that level to submit bids for
416-465: The conference to also support women's hockey. Less than a month later, two more NEHC teams announced that they would be joining the Little East as affiliate members and both Babson and Norwich would be leaving in 2025. The bleeding continued when, in April and May, Hobart, Skidmore and William Smith announced their move to the SUNYAC , while Albertus Magus (who had yet to play a game in the NEHC) and Elmira both announced that they would be leaving to join
442-590: The conference tournament were selected by a committee based upon their perceived strength. This led to some schools like Williams , who finished 4th in the standings in 1962 , not being invited to the tournament despite a 16–3–1 record against other ECAC schools because of their assumed weaker competition. The giant league remained in place for three seasons before being split in two. 15 teams that were willing to invest greater amounts of time, effort and money to their ice hockey programs remained in ECAC Hockey while
468-406: The lesser division in 1971. ECAC 2 remained the primary conference outside Division I for several years but started getting some competition in the 1970s. In that time, however, the conference continued to grow larger until it possessed over 30 members by 1975 and divided itself internally into two divisions (East and West) which would continue for another decade. In 1978, five years after dividing
494-588: The mid 1990s. In 1998 four teams left to become Division I programs in the new MAAC conference. A year later, nine more teams split off to join their primary athletic conference, NESCAC , followed by the women's programs in 2001. Membership numbers held steady over the succeeding 15 years, though several teams came and went. In 2015 the conference rebranded itself as the New England Hockey Conference, but no internal changes occurred. Two years later 6 women's and 2 men's programs left to join
520-506: The new tournament. Even though ECAC 2 technically competed at the D-II level that year, most of its member teams that made tournament appearances did so in the D-III series. With the vast majority of all programs needing to reclassify for the D-III tournament, ECAC 2 dropped down to the lower level in the summer of 1984. That change, however, was not enough to keep the league as one entity. During
546-513: The remaining 14 schools joined in a new league, ECAC 2. ECAC 2 was the first ice hockey conference formed for the NCAA College Division (which would later become Division III and Division II ) and was virtually the only collection of schools in the country that played at the lower tier. After only seven years the conference had doubled in size and once again created a lower tier ( ECAC 3 ) though only six schools chose to leave for
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#1732780884230572-568: The season, it was divided into two conferences with both ECAC East and ECAC West holding separate tournaments at the end of the year. Most of the 46 programs that played in the ECAC 2 are still going as of 2018, with many having jumped up to the Division I ranks. While several schools have won Division III national titles in the years since the conference ended, Maine , UMass , and Union have won Division I national titles . The ECAC 2 played
598-447: The standings. In 1999, when 9 teams left to form the ice hockey division of the NESCAC , the two conferences continued to count games between one another in their respective standings. This arrangement continued even after the addition of more programs. There are 12 member schools; the men's division has ten members, while the women's division has nine members. (as of November 2018) Note: schools in red are planning to leave after
624-464: The two eastern bids to the NCAA tournament . Concurrently, once seven western schools formed their own conference they were able to earn both western bids each year because there were no other colleges in competition for tournament berths. This situation left one eastern bid available for at least two dozen eastern schools. The arrangement came to a head in 1961 when both eastern bids were given to Tri State League teams and very soon thereafter ECAC Hockey
650-517: The women's programs in 2001. Membership numbers held steady over the succeeding 15 years, though several teams came and went. In 2015 the conference rebranded itself as the New England Hockey Conference, but no internal changes occurred. Two years later 6 women's and 2 men's programs left to join a variety of conferences, dropping league membership to 11 schools, the lowest number in conference history. In 2022, Johnson & Wales University announced that they would join Commonwealth Coast Conference as
676-496: Was formed. Following the same pattern as the western schools, every available eastern college joined the league, including the three remaining members of the Tri State League, and the 28-team mega conference was born. Due to the sheer number of universities in the conference none of the teams could guarantee playing each other so from the outset the conference standings were deemphasized and the eight teams that played in
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